“Spin Doctors” hit the cyber-stands on Sunday, December 12, 1999. At 12:01 a.m., the article was posted as the lead feature on Canadian Online Explorer, the national news and information website. Veteran investigative journalist Wayne MacPhail and executive producer of CANOE’s health area, Paul Benedetti, had been tracking the story – hyped as Canada’s first-ever… Continue reading Paddling into Cyberspace
Series: Spring 2000
The State of the Desk
After serving overseas during World War II, Martin Lynch returned home to Vancouver without any definite career prospects. His father suggested he try newspaper work, although Lynch had never shown any aptitude for journalism. He never wanted to write. But without anything better in mind, he met with Roy Brown, then editor of The Vancouver… Continue reading The State of the Desk
Sympathy for the Old Devil
Ted Byfield is in his element. At home in his office, his silvering hair slicked back Sinatra-style, he is surrounded by his heavy leather-bound editions of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and The Cambridge Medieval History. A sign on the wall trumpets beer as “so much more than a breakfast drink.” Virginia,… Continue reading Sympathy for the Old Devil
Beaming Canada to the World
Even now, it’s a day Derek Quinn doesn’t like to think about – the Friday in March 1991 when he received a call telling him to get to the office as soon as possible. When he arrived at the Montreal headquarters of Radio Canada International, he found a lobby full of colleagues who had received… Continue reading Beaming Canada to the World
Good Night and Good Luck
Bill Cameron changed my life. He was the broadcast personality who moved me through his print writing. He was the authoritative anchor who admitted to having a dreadful suspicion that as journalists, “we dip into the surface of events, paddle with our feet, exploit tragedies for the good of our careers and get the story… Continue reading Good Night and Good Luck